1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to processing scanned images on an imaging device and, more particularly, it relates to systems and methods for automatically separating documents.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the course of doing business in various industries, information and data from customers or clients may be needed. Typically, such information is captured using forms filled out electronically or by hand. In order to verify the completeness and/or accuracy of the information, or to obtain the customer's signature, completed forms are often printed and then presented to the customer. Subsequently, such forms are often stored transmitted electronically, such as to a server for further processing and/or to a database for storage.
One industry that uses a multitude of documents or forms is the finance industry. For example, when a person or company opens a bank account at a financial institution, an application form, a signature specimen card, a waiver of liability and a taxpayer identification form, among others, may need to be completed. Upon verification that the forms are accurate and complete, the financial institution uses a scanner or scanning system to scan the hard copy of the documents and retain electronic copies of the forms in at least one electronic content management system and/or other storage repository. The scanning may take place while the customer is waiting, or the documents may be set aside and scanned to the electronic content management system at a later time. The electronic copies may be organized in any number of ways. For example, the electronic copies may be stored by customer or by form type.
To make the scanning and organization process more efficient, some businesses utilize separator sheets between the documents. However, the placement of the separator sheets is a manual human process and may be time consuming. Additionally, errors may occur. For example, the person scanning the forms may rely on the person inserting the separator sheets as having grouped all of the pages of the form correctly and not verify the accuracy of the groupings prior to scanning the forms. Thus, when the documents are scanned, one document may be missing a last page while another document may have an extra page, and errors may not be immediately detected after scanning.
Another potential error that may occur with the use of separator sheets is that the person scanning the form may accidentally send a document to an incorrect process workflow or repository. Regardless of when an error is detected, the error would need correcting, and if the error requires a re-scan of the documents, it may be more difficult to locate the hard copies of the documents, especially as more time elapses between the scanning of the document and the detection of the error.
Accordingly, a need exists for a system which allows for the scanning of multiple documents without using separator sheets. What is also needed is a method to categorize, group and/or sort scanned pages into the appropriate electronic document and automatically route the documents to the appropriate process flow or repository. Additional benefits and alternatives are also sought when devising solutions.